Black Workers Say Agency Is Biased

Scores of black men who work at Social Security Administration headquarters near Baltimore traveled by bus to Washington to say the agency discriminates against them. The media event was outside the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s offices. Three black men filed a class-action complaint with the EEOC in 1995, alleging that black men get fewer promotions and more unsatisfactory job evaluations than warranted by their numbers at SSA headquarters. A preliminary hearing before an EEOC judge is scheduled for May 10. Social Security officials denied that the agency treats black male employees unfairly.